Well.....Now I Have One of My Own

[WBrownIV]

Hello All!

   On Friday I took my parents to the Miniature Museum of Greater St. Louis. I had been wanting to go back and really take a look at the wonderful works of art on display and to look in the gift shop. I'm still working on the Travel Trailer for my father and then it's on to my sister's Glencroft so I was looking to see if I could find anything for either project. They also had some previously built and loved houses for sale as well as a few kits. While I was passing the kits one of them "spoke" to me   I definitely was not looking for anything of the sort but strange how things go!

   After finding some goodies for the other projects I ended up buying the kit. I am now the proud (I hope) owner of an unopened Victorian by Woodline Products. I know nothing of the manufacturer or even if this kit is any good. Something just told me to get it. 

   Of course this will not be started until the trailer and Glencroft is finished. 

  So....those of you in the know. How did I do? Did I get a decent kit or will I live to regret the day I gazed upon its box? Any tips to convey for the build? In the end the money goes toward keeping the museum running so I have no regrets there. I just never thought I would have one of my own! I'm not that great at decorating. Oh boy

Bill

[havanaholly]

Look at it this way, Bill; you have caught the mini "bug".  And remember, there is no rule that says you can only ever have just one dollhouse.

[WBrownIV]

Ha!

   Holly you just may be right! The funny thing is I was told when I purchased my first Corvair that I would not stop at one. They were right! I have two.

 I did just open it and looked at the contents. Everything as the day it was shipped. One thing I noticed that in many of the wood pieces there what look to be holes. Some even look to have been burrowed into. Any thoughts on what this could be and how to fix it?

 

[havanaholly]

Wood lice would be my first thought.  Spray the pieces outside with a good insecticide, cover the kit with plastic for a few days to give any survivors a chance to die out and proceed from there.

[WBrownIV]

Alright I will stick it in a plastic trash bag for now and deal with it this week.

Thank you !

[Dalesq]

That’s a great kit! I seemed to remember that Brae (Otterine) got that kit and posted about the holes in the wood on her blog. Several people left comments. Check it out here http://www.otterine.com/blog/blog1.php/woodline-products-victorian-house-kit

I hope you will start an album and post lots of pics of your build. Congratulations!

[KathieB]

7 hours ago, havanaholly said:

Wood lice would be my first thought.

As children, we knew woodlice as roly-poly bugs; so far as I know, they don't burrow into wood. The tiny powder post beetles would be my first thought. Check the holes for signs of sawdust-like accumulation. If you don't see any, the beetles are long gone and you don't need to do anything. Also, listen to the wood. If you cannot hear any ticking/gnawing sounds, then they beetles are gone. It's okay to use the wood. 

I became acquainted with powder post beetles in an historic grist mill in Virginia.  

[havanaholly]

Wood lice was what one of our friends in Coshocton called them when they invaded the surviving pieces of my grandmother's marble-topped bedroom set; they were obviously NOT termites, so powder post beetles makes sense.  Anyway, we hauled them onto our front porch, hosed them down with Raid and draped plastic tarps over them for a few days.  That was the end of the vermin until field mice invaded our Havana house and turned the one remaining into a nursery (the Coshocton friend had bought the other one).

[WBrownIV]

21 hours ago, Dalesq said:

That’s a great kit! I seemed to remember that Brae (Otterine) got that kit and posted about the holes in the wood on her blog. Several people left comments. Check it out here http://www.otterine.com/blog/blog1.php/woodline-products-victorian-house-kit

I hope you will start an album and post lots of pics of your build. Congratulations!

Thank you for the tip Debora! What's funny is I'm having Brae make me a custom license plate for the travel trailer as we speak! Small world  (pun intended)!

15 hours ago, KathieB said:

As children, we knew woodlice as roly-poly bugs; so far as I know, they don't burrow into wood. The tiny powder post beetles would be my first thought. Check the holes for signs of sawdust-like accumulation. If you don't see any, the beetles are long gone and you don't need to do anything. Also, listen to the wood. If you cannot hear any ticking/gnawing sounds, then they beetles are gone. It's okay to use the wood. 

I became acquainted with powder post beetles in an historic grist mill in Virginia.  

Ok Kathie you just put a frightening scenario in my head! "and as I went to listen for any strange sounds coming from the wood, the bugs burst from their nests right into my ear"! Yes I have a vivid sense of the imagination I'll take a look and see what I find.

13 hours ago, havanaholly said:

Wood lice was what one of our friends in Coshocton called them when they invaded the surviving pieces of my grandmother's marble-topped bedroom set; they were obviously NOT termites, so powder post beetles makes sense.  Anyway, we hauled them onto our front porch, hosed them down with Raid and draped plastic tarps over them for a few days.  That was the end of the vermin until field mice invaded our Havana house and turned the one remaining into a nursery (the Coshocton friend had bought the other one).

Wow Holly that is a shame about the mice  At least they had good taste!

[havanaholly]

The hubs had taken a three-month post-retirement job in VA.  It was our third three-month summer trip, but the first (and only time) the mice got in.  That's when we learned all the feral cats who used to hang out around our house had finally died off.  It took a couple of months to get rid of them; I kept finding nests in the darnedest places!

[KathieB]

1 hour ago, WBrownIV said:

Ok Kathie you just put a frightening scenario in my head! "and as I went to listen for any strange sounds coming from the wood, the bugs burst from their nests right into my ear"! Yes I have a vivid sense of the imagination I'll take a look and see what I find.

LOL. . slip a sock over your ear to keep the bugs out. Even an imaginary sock will do.  But maybe you needn't get that close. If there is no sign of powdery, sawdust-like stuff, the critters have long departed.

[havanaholly]

Describing the sound of critters gnawing on wood brings back memories rocking our infant eldest in our Hawai'i apartment in the wooden rocking chair it was furnished with, and it was so unusually quiet I could hear the termites feasting on the interior of the rocking chair's arms.

[Sable]

Please read this post and the response from Mini Man ( the owner of Greenleaf) toward the end. 

http://www.greenleafdollhouses.com/forum/?app=forums&module=forums&controller=topic&id=41143#comment-660010

[WBrownIV]

11 hours ago, Sable said:

Please read this post and the response from Mini Man ( the owner of Greenleaf) toward the end. 

http://www.greenleafdollhouses.com/forum/?app=forums&module=forums&controller=topic&id=41143#comment-660010

Thanks Sable for the link. I'm lucky that I only have a few holes in some of the wood. Nothing like that first picture! Wow!

[havanaholly]

If it's in wood you'll want to stain and you have a stash of nice clean sawdust (I collect mine when I'm turning things on the lathe) you can make lovely wood putty by mixing some of the stain in with wood glue & the sawdust until it's a nice spreading consistency, and fill your holes as you smooth it over your wood surface (I stain the wood of the floor the same color I stain my floor boards, in case there are gaps).

[WBrownIV]

6 hours ago, havanaholly said:

If it's in wood you'll want to stain and you have a stash of nice clean sawdust (I collect mine when I'm turning things on the lathe) you can make lovely wood putty by mixing some of the stain in with wood glue & the sawdust until it's a nice spreading consistency, and fill your holes as you smooth it over your wood surface (I stain the wood of the floor the same color I stain my floor boards, in case there are gaps).

That is a good idea! I need to inventory the affected pieces and see where they go in the build. If they will be painted I was even thinking about injecting glue into each hole to make darn sure if any were still alive they wouldn't be coming out!

 

On 1/7/2019, 9:41:18, KathieB said:

LOL. . slip a sock over your ear to keep the bugs out. Even an imaginary sock will do.  But maybe you needn't get that close. If there is no sign of powdery, sawdust-like stuff, the critters have long departed.

Kathie I need to look at the pieces again now that I know what to look for. At the moment I have the box in a trash bag just in case!

[havanaholly]

3 hours ago, WBrownIV said:

...Kathie I need to look at the pieces again now that I know what to look for. At the moment I have the box in a trash bag just in case!

After spraying it with insecticide, to be on the safe side; you've had it in there long enough it oughta be OK to take out & start working on it.

[Sable]

As Dean said in the above link. The holes are probably from the original tree from many years ago and any live bugs were killed off when the wood was kiln dried.

If you see wood dust in the box and if all boards are affected then they are current holes. If not you are safe.

[WBrownIV]

11 hours ago, Sable said:

As Dean said in the above link. The holes are probably from the original tree from many years ago and any live bugs were killed off when the wood was kiln dried.

If you see wood dust in the box and if all boards are affected then they are current holes. If not you are safe.

Sable I will recheck everything again but I do not remember seeing any sawdust in the box. I do remember seeing a few "cross sections" of holes which would correspond with what Dean said about the holes being from the original tree. I'll pull the parts out again and do a thorough inspection before stashing it away to await it's turn :) 

[Elsbeth]

"If you cannot hear any ticking/gnawing sounds, then the beetles are gone."

Award winning post for sheer scariness! lol! THat was awesome! AIIIIEEEEEEEEEEE I am now going to listen to any unbuilt kits I have!

[Guest]

Yikes, I have this kit sitting in my dining room. It’s been there for a year unopened... I’m having visions of opening the box and finding only a pile of sawdust.... best go check it.... 

[WBrownIV]

29 minutes ago, Samusa said:

Yikes, I have this kit sitting in my dining room. It’s been there for a year unopened... I’m having visions of opening the box and finding only a pile of sawdust.... best go check it.... 

Sam hopefully you will find nothing wrong with it. Somebody has to break the chain! :)